More ferry service, parking fees and shuttle bus service to the boats could be in place by the fall at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.

All are elements outlined in a "vision" plan for the terminal and its operations that received approval from a Golden Gate Bridge committee last week. The plan aims to address ongoing problems with ferry service.

Larkspur ferry ridership has grown over the past decade-plus and now some 5,300 passengers a day use the ferries. Until September 1998, the lumbering but reliable Spaulding ferries made the trek across the bay in a sluggish 45 minutes. But with the arrival of spry, high-speed catamarans — that make the same trip to San Francisco in 30 minutes — more people have been attracted to the system and ridership is growing at about 5 percent annually.

As Larkspur's Golden Gate Ferry service gets more riders it is running out of spaces in its parking lot and seats on its boats.

Some mornings at the terminal, up to 100 ferry patrons are left behind because boats are full. The district provides back-up buses to get commuters into San Francisco, but some angry patrons hop back in their cars and drive instead.

"About four days a week we have a couple of extra buses to take folks from the ferry terminal to the city," said Denis Mulligan, the bridge district's general manager. "They would rather be on the boat."

The Golden Gate Bridge district's Transportation Committee approved the "vision" plan that outlines additional service in the morning. But elements of the plan still need to come back for public comment and a board vote.

"We will come back next month and look at adding a morning trip so people do not have to take the bus," Mulligan said.

The district is also looking at ways to address parking at the terminal. Spaces are typically filled by 8:30 a.m. weekdays. There is overflow parking available at the nearby Marin Airporter site across Sir Francis Drake Boulevard from the terminal, but at $4, those spaces are not always used. Drivers have taken to parking along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard outside the terminal.

To help relieve the pressure on the lot, planners are suggesting a pilot shuttle bus from the Ross Valley to the terminal to get people out of their cars. But several committee members agreed a shuttle system is doomed as long as parking is free at the terminal.

Charging for parking is a sensitive issue, officials acknowledged.

"A lot of customers do know pay parking is coming, a lot of them are not happy with it," said Jim Swindler, head of the ferry division for the district. "I understand that is the direction we are heading. We ultimately will end up with pay parking. But if we roll that out, it's important to roll it out not only with the shuttles, but also with the announcement of the extra service in the morning."